


Five And Diego Take Ukraine

by yawarakai



Series: world tour [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Apocalypse, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, five is ukrainian because i said so, honestly idk how to tag this, i know five wouldn't really give much thought to his birth mother but i wanted to write this, is it angst or just sad feelings?, local senior citizen tries to find closure, so just go with it lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:49:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawarakai/pseuds/yawarakai
Summary: It’s definitely her. She's around fifty, and striking – Diego can see where his brother gets his features. Light skin, grey eyes, hair dark and straight, slim. She’s a carbon copy of the boy standing before her.“Da?” Five’s mother asks warily.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves
Series: world tour [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923229
Comments: 18
Kudos: 290





	Five And Diego Take Ukraine

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinking about where each member of the academy might have been born and idk i just like the idea of five being from ukraine. anyway enjoy

Five is freaking out.

Diego can tell this for a number of reasons. One, his brother hadn’t even bristled at the flight attendant on the plane to Kiev referring to him as Diego’s son, which was honestly concerning. Five usually answered anyone who even implied that kind of relation with death threats or a knife. Two, he’d actually thanked their cab driver that morning, even after the guy had obviously hiked up the fare. Three, he’d followed Diego into a leather goods store on Khreshchatyk Street twenty minutes ago and actually stood there while he shopped instead of glaring at him from outside.

Diego knows it’s kind of messed up that his brother actually being polite to people is a legitimate cause for concern, but Five just looks way too anxious right now as they walk down the street for Diego to be all that mad about it.

He’s also muttering equations under his breath in German, which isn’t great.

As per their agreement, Diego will do the talking – at least at first. Five is not exactly known for his people skills, and given his tendency to infodump on unsuspecting citizens he’s more likely to scare his mother off before they can have a meaningful conversation.

So Diego’s been brushing up on his language skills. Dad had taught them Russian when they were kids, but not Ukrainian. Luckily most people here knew Russian, so they would just have to hope that Five's mother - if this was even her - would understand them.

“For the record, I still think we should have organised a time to meet with her instead of just dropping in out of the blue,” Diego points out for the seventh time.

As usual, Five waves him off. “I’m taking a leaf out of your book, Diego. I’m being spontaneous.”

Diego rolls his eyes. On second thought, his brother seems to be just fine. “And how do you know she’ll be here? Khreshchatyk is the busiest street in Kiev.”

“I have sources.”

“From where?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Are you kidding me? I literally flew out to Kiev with you for moral support.”

“Which I clearly remember saying _I didn’t need_ ,” Five hisses.

Diego smirks. “Doesn’t mean you didn’t want it, old man,” he says, reaching out and punching Five lightly in the shoulder. Five (surprisingly) allows it with only minimal grumbling.

Diego shoves his hands in his pockets and keeps walking. “Come on. Let’s go find your birth mom.”

//

The woman they’re looking for is sitting at a table outside a quietly bustling café on Khreshchatyk Street, exactly where Five had said she would be.

Diego takes a breath. Here goes nothing. “ _Prostite, Ivana Kovaleva_?” (Excuse me, Ivana Kovaleva?)

The woman looks up from her phone and Diego’s heart does a backflip in his chest. Beside him, Five sucks in a quiet breath.

It’s definitely her. She's around fifty, and striking – Diego can see where his brother gets his features. Grey eyes, hair dark and straight, slim, small. She’s a carbon copy of the boy standing before her.

“ _Da?_ ” Five’s mother asks warily. (Yes?)

Diego smiles and tries his hardest to look non-threatening. “ _Menya zovut Diego Hargreeves. Ya iz Akademi Ambrella v Amerike. Mogu ya zadat' vam neskol'ko voprosov?_ ” (My name is Diego Hargreeves. I come from the Umbrella Academy in America. Can I ask you some questions?)

Ivana's brow furrows and she glances over at Five, standing quietly next to Diego. Her eyes roam over him for a second before she spots the umbrella patch on Five's blazer and gasps, dropping her phone on the table in shock. She stands slowly, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth as her eyes rapidly fill with tears.

Five steps back, eyes widening. Diego panics and tries to backtrack. “Oh, um _, izvinite_ , _my ne khoteli vas rasstroit', izvinite –_ ” (Sorry, we didn’t mean to upset you, sorry –)

“Lukas?” Ivana whispers, cutting Diego off. Her eyes are locked on Five. “Lukas, is it you?”

Five looks like he can hardly believe his eyes. “ _Prostite_?” he asks almost breathlessly. (Excuse me?)

Ivana gasps, long and shuddering, and throws her arms around Five's shoulders, hugging him tight. Five stiffens like a board, and his eyes go wide with shock as she cries into his shoulder. “Lukas, my boy, _o_ , _khvaly Hospoda_...” (Oh, praise the Lord...)

“Ma'am?” Diego asks with growing excitement. “Do you recognise him?”

She nods tearfully, looking up at him.

“He is my son. Lukas.”

//

“As soon as you were born, you flashed.”

“Flashed?” Five asks. They’re sitting at Ivana’s table, each with a small cup of Ukrainian coffee. Five’s cup is surprisingly untouched. Diego is still feeling a little awkward from all the crying – which was mostly Ivana, but there’s a glistening track down Five’s cheek that his brother is studiously avoiding wiping away.

Five holds out a hand, which ripples with blue light. “Did I flash like this?”

“Yes!” His mother smiles widely. “You flashed bright blue, right out of Sister Karina’s hands and right onto my chest before the cord was even cut.”

Five smiles softly.

“We were all so shocked,” Ivana says quietly. “That is why I named you Lukas. ‘Light-bringer’.”

It’s weird to hear his brother referred to by an actual name, which, admittedly, is pretty messed up, but Diego thinks it’s fitting. For all that Five is an annoying little prick, he really did bring light to their shitty childhood. He’d never made fun of Diego for his stutter the way Luther had. He’d snuck out to buy donuts for them at night while Dad and Pogo were sleeping. Klaus had told Diego one quiet, sober night about his private training at the mausoleum on 9th street, and how Five used to blink in at night with a flashlight and blanket and keep him company until Dad came back to fetch him.

Five had always been his siblings’ protector, right up until he couldn’t take it anymore.

Ivana reaches out and takes Five’s hand. “Can I explain why I did it? Why I let you go?”

He nods. “I would like to hear it.” He doesn’t pull away.

Ivana sighs. “I was nineteen when you were born. I had just graduated high school, I was looking for a man, I was so _young_. And then suddenly I was pregnant.” She shrugs. “I was in labour for five hours, and the whole time I could not understand how it was happening.”

Diego winces. He’d known that the circumstances of their births were unusual, but it was another thing to hear it directly from the woman herself.

“I admit I did not know what to do with you,” Ivana murmurs into her coffee. “Most women feel a connection to their babies when they are born, almost as soon as they come out. But then most women know they are pregnant.”

Five looks at his mother with the soberest expression Diego has ever seen. “So what happened?”

She grimaces. “ _He_ came to my house. Hargreeves.”

Diego looks up. Ivana’s face is twisted with disdain. “I thought that was my chance to go back to my life and pretend I was not a mother,” she spits. “He offered 50 million rubles for you, and I _accepted_.”

Diego gets the sense that she’s angrier at herself than she is at Reginald. He can relate – he felt that way on missions, when they lost someone they couldn’t save.

Ivana laughs darkly. “I regretted it the moment I woke up the next day, but by then you were already gone.”

Five closes his eyes. He doesn’t speak.

“I learnt English for you, you know,” his mother says. “I knew Hargreeves took you back to America, but I did not know if he would teach you your own language. I thought, perhaps, if I ever found you again – I could talk to you.”

“He taught us _Russkiy_ ,” Diego interjects. “We can speak in that if it’s easier.”

She shakes her head, smiling ruefully. “No, no, do not trouble yourself. I learnt it for my son. I want to speak it.” Ivana looks at Five. “I am sorry, Lukas. I did not love you enough until after you left.”

//

“I was so much younger, then,” Ivana sighs. To Diego, she says, “can you believe it was over thirty years ago?”

Diego shrugs. “Time passes quickly.”

Ivana inclines her head in agreement, sipping her coffee quietly. Then she stops, and stares at Five. “Wait –”

Five sighs. “I’m guessing you’ve realised I’m younger than I should be.”

She nods numbly. “Your body, you – you look like a child, but you should be…” She gestures at Diego. “Well, you should look like _him_.”

“It’s a long story,” Diego says. “Kind of confusing –”

“It’s because of time travel,” Five says bluntly. “I’m actually sixty-one, but three years ago I time-travelled back from the apocalypse and got stuck in my teenage body.”

“Five!” Diego hisses as Ivana splutters.

“What?”

“You gotta ease into it, man!”

“I did! That was the abridged version!”

“I don’t understand,” Ivana says. Her eyes are wide. “You – you _time-travelled_?”

Five sighs. “It’s a long, complicated story.”

His mother gestures almost desperately. “So tell it.”

Diego sits back and hails the waiter. They’re going to need a lot more coffee for this conversation.

//

“Can we keep in touch?” Ivana asks earnestly, after Five has explained everything and it’s time for them to go.

Five stops, seemingly considering. He nods. “I would like that, Ivana.”

“Lukas, please,” she chuckles. “Even if you _are_ older than me, I still gave birth to you. Call me Mama.”

Diego smirks as Five visibly panics. “Um, that sounds great, but, uh –”

Ivana _tsk_ s. “Am I wrong in assuming you have another mother?”

“No, but –”

“And you live in America, yes? So you call her ‘Mom’?”

“Yes, I do –”

“Well, there you go,” she says matter-of-factly and pats him on the cheek. “You men get so worked up about silly little things. People can have two mothers, my boy. You may be old, but you’re not _stupid_ , are you?”

Diego snorts. Maybe Five has a lot more in common with his birth mother than he thought.

Five looks down at his coffee, a hint of a smile playing on his face. “No, Mama. I’m not.”

**Author's Note:**

> please ignore the minor details of how they tracked down five’s mom lol idk either  
> //  
> for reference, i hc everyone’s birthplaces as:  
> Luther – England  
> Diego – Mexico  
> Allison – USA  
> Klaus – Germany  
> Five – Ukraine  
> Ben – South Korea  
> Vanya – Russia (which is canon)


End file.
